


It's Not an Easy Thing to Hold You Dear

by Celeastral



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Angst, Assassins & Hitmen, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Organized Crime, Past Child Abuse, Past Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Retrospective, Ship tag for visibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:35:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29822268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celeastral/pseuds/Celeastral
Summary: Kaede listens to Maki's stories.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Harukawa Maki, Akamatsu Kaede/Harukawa Maki
Kudos: 11





	It's Not an Easy Thing to Hold You Dear

Kaede strolled along the path, thoughts wandering elsewhere. The sun shone through the fluffy clouds, the rays barely striking the ground. A few minutes later, the clouds floated past, exposing the full strength of the sun once again. It was a fairly nice day, in her mind. Something caught her interest on the ground, the silver glint ablaze.

She held a hand over her forehead for shade against the sun, bending down to examine it. It was smaller than she expected. It was rather familiar… Maki’s earring?

Huh. She should return it if she could find her. Where would she usually be at this time anyway?

With the possibilities running through her head, Kaede carefully picked the earring up and put it on the palm of her hand. If she didn’t see anyone on the way to ask, then she would go look for her herself.

Kaede stood back up, peering around. Spotting Tsumugi opening the door to a building further down, she ran over and called out her name. She greeted her back with a warm smile.

“What’s the rush?” Tsumugi asked, head cocked to one side.

“Oh, I just found Maki’s earring on the ground! I need to give it back to her. Have you seen her?”

She shook her head. “Sorry, I haven’t. I came from the main building straight to here.”

“That’s okay. Thanks! See you around!” Kaede waved and walked away.

“Same to you!”

Well, where to? Maybe check the entirety of the outside first, then the buildings. Then again, she had been on a walk for the past half-hour. Or she could just wait until when they met up for dinner. She continued back, turning around a bend. No sign of her around there.

A few minutes later, Kaede entered a small overgrown trail behind the buildings. This place was a lot more secluded than the others. The smell of earth permeated the air. Not very many people knew about it or came here often, but she vaguely guessed that she would probably be here. It just seemed natural for her, that was all. But really, she wouldn’t be surprised if she was wrong about it and needed to go look somewhere else.

On the path, a branch blocked the way. She ducked down underneath it, though its other smaller branches and leaves brushed against her, which she managed to not get caught by. Tall shadows from the other bushes and trees covered the sunlit areas, unmoving. Cracks of light peppered the brighter parts. Kaede swept a detached leaf off of her shoulder.

She spotted a shape on a bench near the edge of the trail, partially obscured by the foliage high above. Could that be her? Kaede drew closer, trying not to startle them. Crunch. Her foot snapped a twig, alerting that person, who promptly directed a venomous glare over at her. Her gaze relaxed a little upon recognition, but remained forceful. Yep, that was Maki, alright.

“Hi,” Kaede said awkwardly.

“Why are you here?” The question caught her off-guard, especially with the lack of greeting.

“Um, I found your earring and wanted to give it back, so I was looking for you.”

“Oh. I was wondering where it went.” That completely deadpan delivery told her that her mind was on something else. “Thank you.”

She handed it over, and Maki examined it in her palm.

“So, uhhh, you come here often?” Kaede asked with a weak smile, trying to make some small talk.

“I would appreciate it if you left me alone.”

Stand fast. “Well, I want to know, why are you here anyway?”

Maki sighed. “You don’t know when to leave someone be, don’t you?”

“Not really.” She chuckled.

Her expression softened, and she turned her gaze away. “Listen, if you insist on staying, what do you think of me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just…” Maki’s hands curled into fists. “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”

Kaede sat down next to her, mouth open in shock. “Huh!? No! Why would I think that?”

“But, I’ve…” She looked down. “You get it, don’t you? I don’t want to say such things again.”

“It’s not like you have to do that anymore, right? I’m a little confused.”

“No, it’s more… I don’t know if I can be a good person after all of that in my past.”

“You definitely can! You’re doing it right now!”

“What?”

“If all of the guilt is eating you, then let them spill out on me. Maybe it’ll make you feel a bit better.”

Maki looked at her, taken aback. “Why? Why do you care about me so much?”

“Because I know it hurts. Besides, it’s like putting an end to that era, yeah?” Kaede held up a finger. “Then it’s a new beginning.”

“You’re right…” she mumbled. “Where do I start?”

“Wherever you feel the most comfortable speaking about.”

“Then it’ll be the beginning. It’s a long story, and I might bore you.”

“It’s okay. I like stories!”

She half-smiled. “It all started from that orphanage. You’ve heard that part of the story like two times already, should I even repeat it?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Kaede leaned back on the bench. It creaked a little.

“Well, I guess I’ll skip that. I won’t spare you of any details now.”

“Your call.”

“Just… the training. I got ripped out of all the comforts of the orphanage, and for a long while, I didn’t know if it was the right choice anymore. I even cursed my friend out a few times, that’s how much I couldn’t stand it. But it wasn’t for real. Because I chose this path. And I had to deal with it.”

Kaede nodded.

Maki pulled up her sleeves and held out both of her arms. “See these?” The low light illuminated the light silvery scars. “You know what I’ve said before. They tortured me. I bled so much one of those days, I wasn’t really coherent until several days later. It was so thin, that line… and they let me recover. I…”

She didn’t know how to respond to that, so she nodded again.

“I wanted to die. Do you understand how terrible it is to want that at such a young age?” 

Her surprised expression didn’t faze her.

“I tried to kill myself a few times, random attempts when the days were especially bad. But, every time, either my method was ineffective or they found me, though they didn’t comfort me at all. No, they just did enough to keep me from dying. Eventually, those people stopped breaking me and began teaching me to fight. I couldn’t understand why at the time, knowing that conflict between what they did and this. Those torture sessions lessened by a lot, but once in a while, they would do it again to keep us in line.”

“Want a hug?”

“No. Honestly, I’m sensitive about those. Just let me talk.”

“Okay.”

Maki went silent for a moment, like she was thinking. “I remember my first time handling a weapon. They didn’t start with training weapons— no, they started with the real thing. Pitting the experienced against the inexperienced… they thought it would make us learn faster, you know? I connected with the sword and the knife… bladed weapons. I was good at sneaking up against people. But I still had to learn the others, hand-to-hand, explosives, firearms, improvised weapons, in case the client wanted those, or I was disarmed.”

“Then the sword mission happened.”

“You’re right. They only allowed me to live because they saw potential in me, and I swore that I wouldn’t use swords anymore nor fail. Because they just kept reminding me of that failure. Even a glimpse of one brought me back to that moment. Rarely, I’ll get a flashback these days. Anyway, at this point, since things were much better than before, I was able to focus on my promise to her.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Maki sighed. “You’re probably wondering why me and the other assassins didn’t try to kill the higher-ups. They were too powerful, with a private guard at their disposal. That was it. There wasn’t a lot twenty of us could do, and most of us didn’t talk much to each other. So it was lonely. It took some time before I received my next mission. They didn’t trust me, probably, but I was grateful for that…

It was supposed to be an easy one. Just kill the guy and be done with it. No special circumstances. Also, the higher-ups don’t tell you the exact reason for it. Usually, you have to find it out yourself, But along the way, I felt this sense of conflict, like why did he need to die? I put those feelings aside, trying to think that he was a bad guy of some sort. And so I killed him. I still remember how his warm blood coated my hands as I stabbed him from behind repeatedly, how I ran away from the scene of the crime, and… well, thinking about how this was the first one…

Those people claimed that these deaths were in the name of God. It was a load of fucking bullshit. I thought, if God was real, then he wouldn’t have allowed any of this. I realized that we were pretty much alone in this world. That’s why I’m still suspicious of Angie. I can’t deal with her faith, and I can’t talk too much with her, or I’ll get angry, even if this is in the past. I wonder if her perspective would change if she saw what I’ve seen. That girl is somewhat delusional, in my view. Whatever. This isn’t about her…”

“Yeah, I agree that she can be a little too much at times.”

“Eventually, they allowed me to go back to school as part of the training. Likewise, I couldn’t understand this decision. Maybe it was too suspicious for them to have me at the training facility all day. I didn’t make any friends, I didn’t fit in all that well. Everyone thought I was weird, and some of them made fun of me. I threatened them, the only way I knew how to stop it. They still spread rumors behind my back, and it… got to me. From then on, I just did my work and that was it. In the meantime, when I had time that wasn’t used for schoolwork, it was used for that cult. Essentially, it was a double life, having to murder while pretending that I was a regular girl. Ugh…”

Maki’s gaze drifted away as she combed through her hair with her fingers. They sat in silence, Kaede mulling over what she had just said to her. It was a lot, but hopefully it made her feel better to get it out. What a long, hard road.

“Sorry. Need to organize my thoughts,” Maki said. “I feel like I’ve blocked a lot of things out. Maybe they were too traumatic.”

“No worries, take your time.”

She took a deep breath. “I’ll skip over those murders then… it’s like there’s a hole in my memory. Um.” Maki sighed. “The next year after, I met this girl. At first, I thought she was one of those superficially nice people. You know, because I usually was alone. But she was persistent, like you were. You remind me of her.”

“Oh! I see…” It sort of felt weird, but well, maybe the only type of person who could pierce her exterior was that type of person she talked about. Her being one of them?

“After a while, I gave in to my curiosity and wanted to know more about her. Why was she like that? What did she see in me? And so we got to talking. I learned that she was interested in me because she could see that there was something heavy on my shoulders. But not for no reason. She revealed that she had a relation to the yakuza _,_ but didn’t actually have ties to it. That’s why she understood me… we both had something to hide. She knew what her father did in that life, and had to accept that. I mean, she told me that she wanted her father to get out somehow, even though he was the head of his organization. Her mother… did her best to keep them away from it. But that shadow would follow them…

We grew closer and closer, beyond anything I would’ve imagined beforehand, even further than my friend at the orphanage. I felt bad for almost forgetting her, but I wasn’t in a place where I could visit her yet. The cult forbade me from going. And once, my friend said to me, that even if I had so much blood on my hands, that I still had a good heart underneath it all. I didn’t know how to reply to that, her believing that much in me, like you do. I wondered if it was foolish of her to even associate with me, but she did warn me that she wasn’t safe, regardless of our meetings.”

Maki gritted her teeth and curled her hands into fists, then released them. Kaede watched as she held out her hand to her.

“Take my hand. Please.” And she did. The shape, the scars, the warmth… it felt different to her own pristine hand and slender fingers, although she did have similar strength and endurance from years of piano.

“Are you sure you want to continue?”

She let out a dry laugh. “If we’ve come this far, why wouldn’t we keep going? It does help me process it all.”

“That’s good… sorry, I don’t have much to say.”

“It’s okay. I don’t expect you to.” Maki looked up at the bright sky beyond the shade. “If there’s one thing I could wish for, it would be to confess my feelings to her. Just so she would know, because I never was able to do that. I never should have developed them for her. I should’ve kept myself distant. If only that I knew then, that it would only hurt me in the end. But she was the first true close friend that I had in a long time, and well, it was reasonable to be so attached…”

Maki’s face seized up in a mixture of conflict and guilt, as if she was trying to fight it off. With a forceful sigh, she tried to steel herself, but that didn’t alleviate any of the amount of sheer pain that showed through. Tears began rolling down her cheeks.

“Then, I received that fateful order one day. I absolutely couldn’t believe it. I denied it, stalling the mission for as long as I could. I begged for the higher-ups to spare her, to allow her to fake her death, for even at the cost of my friendship, at least I could know that she was safe. But they wouldn’t allow it… because I already used up their goodwill for my other friend.”

Kaede froze at the immediacy of those statements, and winced. What a dilemma. That was probably wrong, seeing as what was done was done, and the past was the past. Having to watch as her hopes dissolved and her heart torn to pieces… no wonder how she was so wary of other people. In the present, it might be old habits, but those kinda die hard, huh, it was really fortunate that she grabbed the opportunity out of that empty path.

“Let me have this. Don’t hug me, let me hug you.” Maki threw herself onto her in a tight embrace, like she didn’t want to release her from it. It was hard to fend off the temptation to hug her back, but she would do as she said. She cried into her shoulder, the muffled sobs coming through.

“It’s okay, Maki.”

She looked up at her with a forlorn gaze, and awkwardly went back to a sitting position on the bench. “T-Thanks.” Maki wiped away the rest of her tears and took a deep breath. They were silent for another few minutes, her trying to mull over what just happened and her previous words. Did she not like touch because of what had been done to her? It was probably that, except, it might be better to simply ask.

“Hey, I have a question, if you don’t mind answering. Why can’t I hug you back?”

“About that… I don’t feel good about others touching me. I actually want it, but I just can’t accept it. That’s all there is to it… I’m not so sure, now that I think about it.”

“Do you want me to try later?”

“I guess. Anyway, back to the story. I thought to myself, that if she had to really die, then I would make it as quick and painless as possible. I kept away, unable to face her. But like always, she… I told her to run far away, fake her death, but… she said… she said… that she already knew her time was up anyway. It was just a matter of when. Her mother was already dead since… I don’t remember. That girl said that running forever wasn’t a life, and that she would confront death, rather than be a coward. That it would be better that I pulled the trigger instead of any other faceless assassin. That was her last wish to me…

We agreed to meet up in a secluded warehouse. I brought a pistol. Instead of shooting from the back, like I usually do, she asked me to aim at her from the front. Standing there… I almost couldn’t do it as we looked into each other’s eyes. But I knew I had to do it.” Maki grimaced. “I fired the shot into her forehead, and she slumped over… I… I… I… ” She covered her face with her hands and groaned. “It was so… so… final. I fled…

I don’t remember much after that. It was just a lot of days of nothing, and on the outside, I looked that way. I was numb. I couldn’t tell anyone about this. But the sheer absence of her. The cult and the yakuza covered it up, saying that it was an act of God. My classmates didn’t suspect it was anything but an accident, it was the usual for them. Yes, they seemed sad but really weren’t, in my view. They didn’t know her. I then felt so angry at everything… at how unfair it all was. I couldn’t show it in school, so I dove headfirst into the assassin work, taking it out on the poor victims… I shouldn’t have done that, but I wasn’t in the right state of mind at that time… a blind rage…”

“It’s okay, Maki. While I can’t condone those actions… I don’t know what to say that might make you feel better.”

“I know it was wrong. You don’t need to remind me.” She looked into her eyes, then turned her head away, haunted by the events she spoke of. “I stabbed one person multiple times when one would’ve been enough, I didn’t know there could be that much blood. I executed a woman, then kept shooting her body after she was already dead… the amount of gunshot wounds… it was surreal. There’s more, but you get it already. I almost got caught several times during then, and I should’ve been! Why do you keep listening to me!? I’m nothing but a horrible murderer.” 

Maki breathed hard after saying all of that, distressed from the memories she brought up.

Kaede considered her next words carefully. “Calm down, if it’s of any help, you had to do it anyway. But you did disrespect them. How about finding their graves, if they have one, and paying respects to them? You might have to sneak around, but it could help redeem yourself.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. “That’s a good idea, I wouldn’t even know where to start, though. It’s been so long, and I don’t remember their names, nor did I care to. I’m not sure how we could get police records, and I’m not willing to take that risk. It’d be like walking into a trap voluntarily.”

“Yeah… I don’t know then. I’m not experienced with these things at all.”

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t expect you to, seeing as your life has been much better than mine. It’s an understatement, but it’s not a jab at you, it’s the truth.”

“I know, I want to help you…” Kaede sighed.

“You can’t do much. But I’d rather have you know about this, so I’m not penting it all up inside myself anymore. I can trust you to not speak about it, unless I decide to open up about it to others, right? I should’ve asked long beforehand, but…”

Kaede nodded with conviction. “My lips are sealed. I’ll swear on that.”

“Good. Well, I guess I’ll continue. Tell me if it’s too much for you.”

“It won’t be. I said that I would listen to it all, and I intend to make good on that promise!” She held her fists up in the air, then put them down.

Maki half-smiled, which soon disappeared. “For what it was worth, my anger couldn’t last. After a while, I realized what I was doing and stopped mutilating their bodies, feeling immense guilt. I got sick of it all. Sad to say, I thought about killing myself again… but just as I was about to attempt it, I must’ve hallucinated my friend’s voice or something. Anyway, it punctured through my mental fog enough for me to see that if I died, then my friend’s sacrifice would’ve been in vain…

Since then, I committed to doing the missions as quickly as possible to limit their suffering, although if there were special circumstances, then I followed those rules. I figured that might repent a little for what I had done to my past victims. Still, with every new death, I got used to it, seeing it as a mundane job, despite how appalling it was in reality. I think that was the cult’s goal, and not long after, they declared that my training was finished.”

She closed her eyes briefly. “But I’m ashamed to say that I also tried to forget my school friend. I didn’t want to deal with it. Even if that sort of rage was gone, the pain wasn’t. I wanted to forget how cruelly our happiness was stolen by the cult and those yakuza elites. I tried to believe she never existed at all. From the look on your face, I know you want to say that it’s a strange reaction. It is.”

Oh, she got her. “Good thing she isn’t truly forgotten!”

“I do actually remember her face, but I only remember her surname and a fragment of her first name. I used that fragment as a nickname.”

At this point, she didn’t know what to answer to that, so Kaede just nodded again.

“After the training, the higher-ups decided to let me visit the orphanage. It did feel like a betrayal to turn from one friend to another that quickly, but that girl was the reason I was here in the first place. I absolutely had to go see her.” Her gaze shifted into a wistful one. “I wonder if the higher-ups were merely laughing at my misfortune, because I arrived there only to find the news of her death. As I’ve mentioned before, she died in a car accident saving a child. I like to think that she died happy, doing such a good deed. I vowed to carry on, so that our orphanage would be safe in her honor.”

“That’s a noble vow.”

“Even if it’s propped up by murder? You know the ends don’t always justify the means, do you? Well, as if I’m in any position to talk about morals.”

Kaede held up a hand. “It’s not that, but rather you were following the only possible way to support the orphanage. If I remember correctly, the assassination contracts were equivalent to the charity given, and knowing those higher-ups, they would have never changed it.”

“I was being facetious,” Maki said with a smirk. “It’s not close to an even decent joke, but I figured I would add a little humor.”

“Okay, okay. What happened next?”

“It was the same old. I also just didn’t care about whom I killed, because it would’ve been pointless to think about whether they were good or bad. A waste of energy. Sometimes, contracts started to blend together because of how similar they were to situations I had been in before. Treating death like an everyday thing…” Maki shook her head. “Not actually everyday, but close enough.”

“I can’t imagine how it feels to have it as a constant companion. Like, it’s both an accepted risk and basically, what you do. Meanwhile, most of us will never touch even a little bit of that world, unless they’re in a specific field, like Shuichi is.”

“Yeah. Similarly, it’s easy to take normal life for granted. I’ve said this a few times, but I did wonder what would’ve happened if I stayed at the orphanage. I might’ve been sad for a while for my friend being taken away, but otherwise lived in complete ignorance of that life. I probably would’ve cared for the younger children while going to school, and maybe, I would’ve gotten a job in high school, following the normal path. But instead of that, I have this.” She pointed to a scar as an example. “I dislike dwelling on such pointless possibilities though. These are long past.”

“I guess I won’t talk further about that then. Although I do want to know if you had any childhood dreams or goals!” At that age, she herself already swore fealty to the piano. She knew some people who weren’t sure at all about anything. Maybe one of those people was Maki. It might be too presumptuous though.

“Of course I did. Unfortunately, my ordeals made sure they didn’t exist anymore. I don’t remember exactly what they were… sorry.”

“That’s alright.”

“Let’s see. It took another few more years of murdering people before I was offered this lucky opportunity. I’m not proud of any of them, even if some of the setups were complicated.” Maki sighed. “Besides that, I had already accepted that I was going to do this for my whole life. I had long forgotten what optimism was, so I didn’t believe that there was any way out. It looked like the Holy Salvation Society was impenetrable, having that amount of power.”

“Do you want to elaborate on those setups?”

“It’s not necessary, is it? Then I won’t. I’m not sure you want to hear me talk about pretending to be someone else and sneaking about.” Maki grimaced.

“Hey, are you alright? Do you want to hug me again?”

“It’s fine. Something occurred to me about myself. I wasn’t really myself as an actual person during those times, but rather because of the amount of identities I had to take on for the missions and the general callousness of everyone around me, I never heard my real name. Just… just say my name. Please.”

That was depressing to hear. “Your full name? Or just your first name?”

“Full name.”

“Maki Harukawa.”

“It’s nice to listen to you saying it. Again?”

“Maki Harukawa.”

There was a tiny but beaming smile from her. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” That brought a grin to her own face too. “Want to relax for a bit? It’s close to sunset.”

“I suppose. I know of a decent spot where we won’t be bothered, if you want to watch it.”

“Yeah, let’s go! I don’t know enough of this place anyway!”

“Follow me.” Maki got up from the bench. “It’ll take a bit of hiking. Don’t trip, okay?”

Kaede did the same, taking a deep breath and stretching her limbs. “I’ll be careful!”

They continued along the overgrown path, her marveling at how it almost seemed abandoned. There were places where the dirt was entirely covered with fallen leaves, twigs, and even two or three toppled trees, resembling nothing but another part of the woods. If she didn’t know better, then it would be pretty creepy, she had to admit. But Maki was trustworthy, especially after sharing so many painful stories. Anyway, she instinctively knew that from the day she first met her.

The ground began to slope up into the beginnings of a hill. “It’ll be a little steep and rocky. There’s a glade up ahead. Watch your step.”

“Will do!”

Small boulders and rocks littered their way, and the amount of trees as they went forward began to lessen, turning into bushes and grasses. At the top, several tiny outcroppings of rocks marked the glade, and the stark edges of the woods surrounded the hill. It wasn’t very high, but it was enough to clearly see the sun above the trees. The sky was already starting to glow a light shade of orange.

“How did you find this place? It’s quite far away from the school,” Kaede said. “I think we can sit down here.” She pointed at a flattish grassy spot and sat down.

Maki shrugged. “I sometimes go exploring. It’s good for thinking, and usually, I won’t be bothered by anyone. It’s surprising to know that there are places like these even in such a big city, although it’s not that large of a woods.”

“Yeah, but we’re in a way quieter part of it, so…”

She nodded and sat down next to her. “I never did finish my story. There isn’t much left. I think I have enough time to say it all before the sun gets lower.”

“Go for it!”

“I mentioned that opportunity earlier. The higher-ups didn’t want to tell me of it, but there was a threat enclosed within that offer that got them to move. I don’t know what it was, but apparently it scared them enough. They passed it along, but word soon spread and the other assassins were jealous. I knew it probably wouldn’t be safe for me there anymore…

At least it said that the orphanage would become independent as part of the deal, and that it would be funded until it could become self-sufficient. In exchange, I would go to this high school. I was suspicious for a bit, because it sounded too good to be true. That was, until the higher-ups begged me to stay, saying I was their best hitwoman and a lot of other shit. I didn’t fall for their tricks, and I’m glad that I didn’t. They didn’t break me, no matter how hard they tried to. I wanted out, even if every assassin of theirs was going to work together to take me down…

Yet, it’s been a long time, and I haven’t heard anything from them. I’ve been checking on the orphanage, making random patrols every week. They were fine. I wondered what happened, but decided to move on from the Holy Salvation Society. It wasn’t worth worrying about. They didn’t care about me, so I didn’t care about them. For the first time, I found freedom. And that’s the end of it. Still, the things I’ve done torment me, as you can obviously see.”

There was a finality to her last few sentences. “Do you feel better after talking about it?”

“Yes, you’re a relief, you know that? I wonder when they’ll let go and fade into just another memory.”

“This is going to be really obvious, but it’s going to take time. Sorry, I don’t have much to say. It was such a big part of your life, that it would be rude to try to distill it down into something.”

“Yeah. That’s okay.” Maki sighed and looked up. “Let’s watch the sunset together.”

The soft glimmer of the rays filtered through the trees, casting its wide reach over the land. Amongst the many clouds, the sun painted the heavens with warm colors from its glow. Purple and blue streaks suffused through and merged with them, creating a variety of gradients. As the minutes passed, the sun soon dipped below the horizon, carrying its brilliance with it.

That was a fine sunset, better with Maki here. Kaede wondered what things would come of this meeting later on. Knowing her story now, she harbored a deeper respect for her, a deeper connection.

“Hey. Kaede.” She turned her head to her and smiled. Maki’s eyes sincerely gazed into her own.

“What is it, Maki?”

“Thanks for listening to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! Maki pouring her heart out to Kaede was something I really needed to write! That is all.


End file.
